August 9, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Dozens of pro-family leaders have signed a petition to condemn the participation of the U.S. embassy in the Czech Republic in this year’s “gay pride” parade to be held in Prague later this month.

The signatories “vigorously protest the participation of the United States Embassy in the Czech Republic in a so-called gay-pride parade which will take place on August 18,” lamenting that “at the directive of the president of the United States, Washington is aggressively promoting the ‘gay’’ agenda internationally, including same-sex ‘marriage’ and the stigmatization and marginalization of any who object to the same.”

The petition notes that “The Obama’s administration’s embrace of ‘same-sex marriage’ has been overwhelmingly rejected by the American people,” and finds no support in international law.

“The United Nations has never affirmed homosexual ‘marriage’ or rights,” observe the signatories, pointing out that the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights allows marriage only for “Men and women of full age,” and that the same document “further defines the family as ‘the natural and fundamental group unit of society’” which is “entitled to protection by society and the State.”

The petition, which was formulated by Czech pro-family activists and is being circulated by the World Congress of Families, has been signed by representatives of the Alliance Defense Fund, Human Life International, the Population Research Institute, the Russian Orthodox Church, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, Tradition Family and Property, the Latin American Alliance for the Family, the Traditional Values Coalition, Spain’s Make Yourself Heard (HazteOir), Mexico’s Family Network (Red Familia), Liberty Counsel, and the United Kingdom’s Christian Concern, among many others.

The protest follows a similar statement issued against the U.S. ambassador to Latvia’s participation in the “Baltic Gay Pride Parade” in June of this year.

The U.S. State Department, under the leadership of Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration, has created controversy in recent years by using its diplomatic muscle and prestige to promote the homosexual agenda in foreign countries.

The appointment of Marie Carmen Aponte as ambassador to El Salvador was blocked by the Senate’s Judiciary Committee in December of last year because of an open letter she wrote to a local newspaper denouncing “homophobia,” claiming that those who opposed the acceptance of special rights for homosexuals are motivated by “hate” and “prejudice,” and quoting Hillary Clinton’s aphorism that “gay rights are human rights.”